current artist

Current Artist

October 1st – January 6th, 2019

“With the orderly eye of an engineer, this brilliant artist shares fluent and eloquent expressions of our great city," stated owner and culinary director Levi Rollins. "I am excited to share his amazing photography-based art with our guests from October 1st through January 6th, 2019. "Everyone is invited to attend our reception for Cyriaque on Saturday, November 10th, 2018, from 3-5pm. and to enjoy an afternoon of art, live music and complimentary beer, wine, champagne and hors d'oeuvres."

Cyriaque Milhau

Artist’s Statement:

On the front end, there are cameras. They offer us a chance to change perspective, time lapse or even color range. Post-processing goes past those changes to create something beyond the extraordinary. I believe photography is the entire process that goes from capturing what the eye can’t see, to crafting new sights you can admire and share.

On the back end, there is the art. Art gets interesting when it presents something that is not only new, but also unexpected. New ideas, new discussions rarely sprout from a mundane environment. I just can’t leave you with anything ordinary. Instead, I want to fill your environments with concepts that can’t be unseen.

The Guy

Hi! I’m Cyriaque (pronounced “seeree-ack”, but I also answer to “hey, you!”). French by nationality, Texan by choice, unable to get rid of my accent, but definitely and uncompromisingly Houstonian. Engineer by trade, I like the order of things, from how they are created, to how they work and, ultimately, improved. Ever since I developed my first black and white print at age 11, I have kept a passion for photography. It’s not just pressing the shutter, it is creating something new, something unique, every time.

I work with a variety of tools, based on the situation. From my Canon 5D Mark IV to my DJI Phantom 4 Pro, and a few others in between. There is no one-size-fits-all camera I can ever be happy with. As a result, I became a bit of a gear hoarder, with quite a few lenses, filters, tripods, external lights and even backpack configurations that each allow me to provide a unique twist on a captured moment. And because technology has been made available to us, from PTGui, to Photomatix, to Photoshop, there are even more tools I am using on the post-processing side to take these pictures even a few steps further.

Going Beyond the Print

Between exhibitions and art festivals, most of my photography activity for 2018 falls into the Art category. I want my collectors to have more than just a pretty piece of visual on their wall, so I am developing the prints in two ways:

Art often brings awareness, but good intentions are hardly tangible. More than art, we need compassion. So for selected pieces, still at regular price, 50% of the proceeds will go to targeted local associations who are doing an excellent and much needed job at improving our community.

Living in the digital age, anything can be upgraded. That should apply to conventional art too. My metal prints come with a QR code that links to their own dedicated page. On there you will get more information about the image, and, in some cases, access a cinemagraph, i.e. a short video loop that bring a still image to life, and further expresses its intent.